The FBI used National Security Letters -- a form of surveillance that privacy watchdogs call frightening and invasive -- to surreptitiously seek information on Google users, the web giant has just revealed.

Googles disclosure is an unprecedented win for transparency, privacy experts said Wednesday. But its just one small step forward.

I bet all kinds of monitoring is going on through the Internet about its users that doesn’t require one iota of evidence for probable cause or a warrant to be issued to spy on them. I know it is for marketing but I’m pretty sure for other reasons as well.

There has been great expenditure of time and our money to sniff our nether regions by the government, and they have stated that intent.

I assume they are going to read, or at least can read whatever communications I have via any electronic device.

When a government claims dominion over your diet, your toilet, and the light bulbs in your house, any invasiveness which does not require them to be doctors is open, and they want the doctors to do the rest.

All that kept the Nazis and the Soviets form keeping such records and snooping at that level was the absence of the automated systems (computers) to carry out the task. We are far beyond their levels of snooping in most of the country.

3
posted on 03/09/2013 3:55:07 AM PST
by Smokin' Joe
(How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)

I know it is for marketing but Im pretty sure for other reasons as well.

I was researching a novel Havelocks Corpse which is on Kindle. I typed into Google Micro Nuke and Backpack Nuke. The results raised the hair on the back of my neck. The wording on every page was carefully constructed; it seemed to be trying to find out if I was trying to build one. Notably absent was any information on the Russian backpack nukes Russian General Lebed said he had built for the KGB. I have no doubt that flags were raised. What I knew before the search, and is not available, were mechanisms to use subcritical amounts of nuclear material to achieve high energy reactions. I skipped over the how-to in the novel as the character didnt have a need to know.

Nothing ever came of the search. I probably didnt meet any data mining profiles as I had several Top Secret clearances in my career with extended background checks. But if somebody typed in that search and kept it up and then searched for users of fissionable isotopes, Ill bet that researcher would go to the top of the list.

I view this two ways. As an American citizen who does not want radioactive fallout raining down on me, Im okay with it. But as a guy who wants his ammunition purchases private, Im not so happy.

I think almost everyone has expected that their Internet use has been tracked to some degree for a long time. Wasn't there something about watching for web searches for words like "militia"? I'm sure many on the right are on government list. The TEA party movement is considered extremist by our tyrannical government. It's considered extremist only because we are a large powerful movement that opposes the same tyrants slandering us. It's a large loosely based movement made up of Conservatives and Libertarians who disagree with each other on many issues, but share a basic belief in our Constitution, and that's a belief the leftist tyrants fear.

I will continue to support The Oath Keepers, and the Constitutional Sheriff and Peace Officer Association while working at the local level of government to do whatever I can. I feel this is an important part of preparing for whatever we face in the near future. It's encouraging to see how these types of mainstream patriot groups have been growing. I have no doubt whatsoever that these groups are watched by our government, but there isn't just a public face reflective of their membership, but also those like-minded patriots familiar with these movements, but intentionally not linked to them for obvious reasons. Both the public and private face of these movements are vital for success. Everyone can help save this nation, and no one should ever downplay the influence they have.

...by softening its edge on some volatile social issues and altering its image as the party always seemingly "eager to go to war... We do need to expand the party and grow the party and that does mean that we don't always all agree on every issue" ... the party needs to become more welcoming to individuals who disagree with basic Republican doctrine on emotional social issues such as gay marriage... "We're going to have to be a little hands off on some of these issues ... and get people into the party," Paul said. [Rand Paul: Time for GOP to soften [immigration, gay marriage] stance]

One day after announcing on his radio show that he is "truly considering" running in 2014 for the U.S. Senate seat now held by New Jersey's Frank Lautenberg, Rivera amped up his message today in a television interview and a column on the Fox News Latino website... a moderate Republican who is fiscally conservative but also supports gay marriage and Roe v. Wade... [Geraldo Rivera declares himself a 'moderate Republican' as he eyes U.S. Senate run]

16
posted on 03/09/2013 6:42:12 AM PST
by SunkenCiv
(Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)

Yes. Startpage is like a search proxie. It searches google for you so your ip and other personal information isn’t collected by google. Instead all google will see is startpage searching for stuff, not you. So you get the full power of a google search without the privacy problems.

I guarantee you guys that the fed monster actively scrapes FR to keep close tabs on us, the ungovernable. In light of that, let me just say that I think that people who work for the government spying on good God fearing citizens are the lowest scum of the pond. Say hi to Beelzy when you meet him.

22
posted on 03/09/2013 7:35:27 AM PST
by RingerSIX
(My wife and I took an AIDS vaccine that they offer down at our Church.)

I looked at the Startpage site, but it indicates that it is associated with Google, also. Were you indicating that Startpage was better to use than Google?

They are not affliated with Google. My understanding of it is that Startpage uses the Google search engine through a separate server (not tied in to google) then forwards the search results to you. Your IP information and other identifiers are not recorded by Startpage and Google only has the anonymous search info from Startpage. Hope that makes sense. More info on the Startpage home page links.

You may want to start using Mozilla Firefox with plug-in NoScript, which combination can BLOCK Google Analytics, though it will take some practice on your part, to acquaint yourself how to use NoScript well.

30
posted on 03/09/2013 12:03:25 PM PST
by First_Salute
(May God save our democratic-republican government, from a government by judiciary.)

The key question here is are the “search criteria” justified for legitimate national security purposes (and also well defined), and are those who get this information responsible and smart enough to properly evaluate it (and properly safeguard it from abuse).

As one who worked on an Organized Crime Task Force data project, and a terrorism prosecution, I have seen great FBI (and other govt security agencies) surveillance work - right on target for the case objectives. That was then, this is now.

I wouldn’t trust Att. Gen. Eric Holder to read my junk mail, nor most of his high level asskissing flunkies. What I’m worried about is whether FBI director Mueller has the balls to “say no” to Holder when he wants to go on his political witchhunts against conservatives.

I do not have much faith that this will happen. It is not the FBI that I knew and worked with in the past, and that included several Assistant Directors who I briefed or had as friends.

The biggest problem is what does the FBI have on Obama’s friends who are communists and/or supporters of foreign dictators, and whether this information is kept or has been destroyed.

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich) tried to destroy House Internal Security Committee files back in the 70’s, and Ted Kennedy tried it in the Senate for SISS files. Don’t think that the Left and now Jihadist sympathizers in Congress don’t want to destroy internal security information. They do, and they will try.

The question is whether Mueller can fight them off, esp. if Holder and company demand that they do so.

The same applies to military intell gathered in Iraq and Afghanistan. There has been at least one coverup of CBW materials captured in Iraq during the war because I know who found them and approximately where. Saddam was prepared for chemical warfare against American troops. Fortunately this never happened.

Intelligence is a very misunderstood field of warfare and counterwarfare/counter-subversion, etc. If done properly, it can make all the difference in the world as to whether you win or lose. Mishandled or bungled and you get 9/11 (FBI mid-level administrations fucked that one up good).

In the wrong political hands (anyone in the Obama administation), and it could have disasterous consequences against patriotic Americans.

That is what has to be guarded against. Rand Paul is looking better to me every minute that goes by. John McCain and Goober don’t. That, in itself, is an American tragedy.

You know, IBM sold the Nazis a system in which to keep the trains to the concentration camps running efficiently. There was a book about it written in the 80s and IBM admitted to it happening.

While your statement may be literally true, I believe it is highly misleading. The formalization of "the final solution" took place on 20 January 1942 at the Wannsee Conference, a month and a half after the United States entry into the war. While many Jews had been executed before that date, there was no systematic effort to eradicate the Jewish people until after that conference, and thus no need for train schedules to ship Jews to extermination camps which did not exist prior to that point in time.

I don't believe that IBM sold or would have been permitted to sell anything to Nazi Germany after they had declared war on the US.

It is certainly possible that IBM may have sold Germany such a system before we were at war with them, but that is far different from what you intimated with your comment.

IBM sold the system to Germany before the war, and it greatly facilitated the Holocaust because it made the big roundups a lot simpler. The prewar Jewish population in Germany was a fraction that of Poland’s, and the occupation of Poland was a necessity from the standpoint of carrying out the mass murders. Himmler said, “Polish Jewry is the genetic powerhouse of European Jewry.”

46
posted on 03/11/2013 4:23:39 AM PDT
by SunkenCiv
(Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)

The Nazi government used punch cards from IBM Hollerith machines that were supplied by IBM's German subsidiary. Here is the statement from IBM, which puts the matter is a somewhat different perspective, at least for me:

“It has been known for decades that the Nazis used Hollerith equipment and that IBM's German subsidiary during the 1930s — Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen GmbH (Dehomag) — supplied Hollerith equipment. As with hundreds of foreign-owned companies that did business in Germany at that time, Dehomag came under the control of Nazi authorities prior to and during World War II. It is also widely known that Thomas J. Watson, Sr., received and subsequently repudiated and returned a medal presented to him by the German government for his role in global economic relations.”

"With Startpage you still have a Google search, which can be biased in the direction Google wants. Instead use ixquick. https://ixquick.com/ It is the worlds most private search engine."

Interesting from Ixquick page:

"Ixquick was developed and launched in 1998 by David Bodnick in New York. In the year 2000, it was acquired by Surfboard Holding B.V, a privately held Dutch corporation whose only activities are operating Ixquick and Startpage."

49
posted on 03/12/2013 4:30:11 PM PDT
by uncommonsense
(Conservatives believe what they see; Liberals see what they believe.)

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